Senior Policy & Scrutiny Officer

Salary range: £43,860- £46,839 p.a. inc. 

Contract: Permanent 

Hours of work: 36 hours per week

Location: Civic centre 

 

 

Your chance to be at the heart of accountability and transparency at Brent.

 

Brent is a tremendously vibrant London borough where the iconic arch of Wembley Stadium dominates the skyline. Spanning both inner and outer London, it is a borough of huge contrasts in terms of its economic, environmental, ethnic and social make up. Brent’s diversity is evident to all who visit our borough and our long history of ethnic and cultural diversity has created a place that is truly unique and valued by those who live and work here.

 

The council is pursuing a far-reaching transformation agenda that better meets the needs of our community so it is an exciting time to join us.

 

The Post

We are looking for a highly motivated individual capable of dealing with the demanding responsibilities of the council’s democratic processes.

You will take the lead for one of the council’s two scrutiny committees and work flexibly across the function to ensure the council delivers robust and effective scrutiny. You will ensure the smooth running of committee meetings and related processes. You will be responsible for all activities related to the scrutiny function, such as the annual work planning process. You will also take the lead for any task groups, and play a key role in the annual budget scrutiny task group. There will be opportunities to work regionally with scrutiny colleagues.

You will work with members, strategic directors, governance colleagues and stakeholders to lead the business of scrutiny, with the objective of ensuring the council delivers priorities and secures improvements, in line with the Borough Plan 2021/22.

The Person

The successful candidate will have a thorough knowledge of how local government works. You will able to provide constitutional advice on the council’s decision-making processes, ensuring high standards of service and governance are upheld.

You will be innovative, positive and drive improvement. You will have, or will develop, the policy expertise and insight necessary to support the committee. You will forge and maintain excellent working relationships with councillors, senior officers, governance colleagues and fellow team members. You will have strong written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills, political awareness, tact and diplomacy, attention to detail, an ability to think logically and plan ahead and work with the minimum of supervision. Reliability and calmness under pressure are prerequisites, given that the role often involves working to tight deadlines.

The council’s meetings are held in the evening and a flexible approach and regular attendance at evening meetings is a requirement of this post.

This post is politically restricted

Closing date: 6 February 2022 (23:50)

 

Additional Information

Brent Council values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this and therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community. We positively encourage all applicants to self-identify their characteristics in the diversity survey section in the application.

 

We are committed to safer recruitment and safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Applicants should be aware that posts working with children, young people and vulnerable adults are subject to an Enhanced DBS check as well as other employment clearances.

 

Brent has a positive approach to flexible working.

As a disability confident employer Brent welcomes applications from people with all disabilities, including hidden disabilities and mental health conditions. We will interview any disabled applicant who meets the essential criteria. If you require reasonable adjustments to be made to any part of the recruitment process due to your disability, please contact us on recruitment@brent.gov.uk.

 

Please note CVs will not be considered as part of your application for this position.